New York Knicks and Phil Jackson’s plans next season

There is no denying that the New York Knicks are into a very bad situation at the moment, one of the toughest ones they have been in since Carmelo Anthony came on-board . This was the first season in the Melo era that the team didn’t make it to the postseason and on top of that, their megastar forward is set to hit the free agency in a little more than one month from now.

However, the arrival of Phil Jackson, the new President of the team, has brought hope to New York. Now the team is ready to make all the corrective moves needed in order to improve next season.

The truth is that Phil Jackson has already started the work. Following the failure to reach the playoffs, the New York Knicks announced that they parted ways with Head Coach Mike Woodson. Steve Kerr, Jeff Van Gundy and Lionel Hollins are considered as the top candidates to fill the position, although we might just see a surprise from the Zen Master regarding this spot. The certain thing is Jackson will have to bring in a coach who will have the approval of Melo.

Much of the New York Knicks’ moves during the offseason will depend on Melo’s decision to stay or leave. If he stays, the Knicks won’t have the financial flexibility to do much more than just a few correcting actions. They could add some veterans through the free agency, who would most probably accept the minimum to jump in.

Another task Phil Jackson is expected to work on for the upcoming season is developing the young players of the team. Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. could play a big role next season, bigger than the one they currently have in the team’s rotation. In addition, they could be valuable assets going forward for the New York Knicks and they could be core members for the team when it starts to rebuild, hopefully around Melo, after the end of the 2014 – 2015 season.

That’s exactly when the New York Knicks and Phil Jackson will have the opportunity to start making big changes. The Knicks are currently the second most expensive team in the league, with a payroll that exceeds $88 million. Next season, the team will most probably exceed $90 million, if Melo stays in New York. More than half of that money will be off the books after the end of the next season, when the contracts of Amar’e Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani and Tyson Chandler will expire. That’s when Phil Jackson, who will have spent more than one year studying the market and pinpointing his targets, could make his moves and make the New York Knicks the powerhouse he wants them to be.

Phil Jackson wouldn’t have accepted the job as the head of the Knicks, unless he believed he could find success. Now that he did accept the position, New York Knicks fans can stay optimistic that he can make it.